Various machines for extracting hot beverages or food from ground coffee, tea, soups and the like are known.
Particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,472 discloses a water circulation system for such a machine between a water reservoir and a hot water or vapour distribution chamber, for an espresso machine. The circulation system includes valves, a metallic heating tube and a pump that are interconnected with each other and with the reservoir via a plurality of silicone hoses that are joined together by clamping collars.
Such a beverage preparation machine has a complex water circulation system configuration that is bulky and costly, while consisting of a plurality of discrete parts. While the water circulation system might pertain to a compact beverage production device, it is difficult to design and accommodate the large number of parts proposed by the U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,472 in a compact configuration, while at the same time providing for facility of manufacture of such a machine.
Further drawbacks of the system proposed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,472 reside in its complexity of fabrication and production, that results in increased costs. Further yet, since the proposed system comprises a large number of stand alone parts, it requires a large number of assembly steps to fabricate and service the device. The assembly of silicon hoses and clamps also require human intervention during assembly of the machine. As a result, the manufacture and service of said devices is very complex and costly.
Therefore, there is a need for a simplified design for the water circulation system of a beverage production device.